Westminster
Abbey has been the site of a monastery since the 8th century
but it was the Anglo-Saxon monarch Edward
the Confessor who rebuilt it into the Abbey that is the
basis of the structure today.
On
Edward's death in 1066 he became the first of a long line of
monarchs to be buried there, a tradition that continued into
the 19th century when it was superceded by St George's Chapel
at Windsor
Castle. The spouse of the ruling monarch, or royal
consort, was often buried in the Abbey alongside them.
Another
tradition which has continued up until the present day, began
with William
the Conqueror, who on Christmas Day 1066 became the first
monarch to be crowned at the Abbey.
Many famous
people have also been buried in the Abbey. In 1400 the poet
Geoffrey
Chaucer
was buried there since when that part of the Abbey is known
as Poet's Corner. The
following is a list of the monarchs who are buried in the Abbey.
1.
Edward III was originally buried at Kings Langley, Hertfordshire but
his body was moved in 1413 to Westminster Abbey. 2.Edward
V was one of the two "Princes
in the Tower" who were imprisoned and murdered in the Tower of
London in 1483. It was not until 1674 that what is believed to be
their skeletons were found in the Garden Tower and it was these bones
that were then buried at Westminster Abbey.
3. Mary,
Queen of Scots was originally buried at Peterborough Cathedral, Northamptonshire.
In 1612 her son James I, had her body moved to Westminster Abbey.